by Cathryn Fox
“Yeah?” he asked.
Watching her squirm in her seat filled him with erotic visions of how her sexy body would move underneath him. Christ, there was nothing he wanted more than to pin her hands above her head and feel her writhing and gyrating beneath him. His pulse raced in a mad cadence as he relished the arousing image.
Her tongue made a slow pass over her bottom lip. With a slight nod, she gestured to his hand as he moved the garter higher on her thigh. “That tickles,” she murmured.
He lifted a brow. “Then I guess that means I’m doing it right.”
Her eyes clouded with need. “Something tells me you always do it right, Kale,” she breathed into his mouth.
He grinned and pitched his voice low. “I’ve never had any complaints yet.”
She drew her bottom lip between her teeth and lowered her voice to match his. “Are we still talking about putting on a garter?”
His grin turned wicked. “Not even for a minute.”
She flushed darker. “I didn’t think so.” Her soft tone made him weak with need.
His body trembled almost uncontrollably. As her heat curled around him, all he could think about was how he’d like to take her home and satisfy her in ways she’d never been satisfied before.
If he hadn’t promised his family he’d be there for their ritual Sunday dinner, he’d scoop Erin up, haul her back to his place, and let her experiment with the role of bad girl as he made sweet love to her all weekend long until work beckoned them Monday morning.
He ached to lock himself deep inside her while he explored her curves and traced the pattern of her body with his fingers and his tongue. He wanted to lave her nipples with long, luxurious strokes and suck on her hard buds until she became feverish with need and came completely apart in his arms. He wanted to look deep into her soulful, warm brown eyes and watch her lose the control that she so painfully guarded as she reached a powerful, earth-shattering climax.
Although this wasn’t the time or the place for such intimacy, the situation was escalating beyond his power to stop it. At this particular moment, his head ruled his actions. Unfortunately, it was the swollen, hormone-driven head pressing insistently against its zippered cage that demanded undivided attention.
Curious hands climbed higher. His forward motion was thwarted when his fingers reached the apex between her legs.
Heat radiated from her sex and warmed his body. The seductive, feminine tang of her arousal reached his nostrils. He inhaled her heady aroma and sensed that her needs and desires matched his own.
He felt dampness on her silk panties and could barely summon the strength to speak. He stroked her. Softly. Barely touching her nether lips.
Holy fuck. She was drenched. His mind stopped working.
She tensed against him and gasped. Her hips jerked forward, driving his fingers harder against her cleft as she leaned into him. Her shaky hand intercepted his. Kale sensed it was a token gesture to stop him. The ardent darkening of her eyes and her body language belied her actions.
With their lips mere inches apart, she whispered in a hushed tone, “Kale?” Her voice was far from steady.
“Look up,” he managed to say around the lump forming in his throat.
Her eyes were dark, glossy, perplexed. She frowned in concentration. “What?”
He drew a deep, fortifying breath and nestled his face close to her perfumed neck. Her sweet scented skin nearly shut down his brain.
He slipped a finger under her chin. “Look up, Erin, and tell me what you see.”
She tilted her head and squinted in the dim light. Her dark brows knitted together as her chest rose and fell with her quick breathing. Kale felt his tongue go dry at the sight of her long, pale neck. He watched her pulse jump at the base of her throat. That’s where he wanted his mouth. Right where her creamy neck melted into her collarbone.
She went absolutely still when she spotted a thick cluster of green leaves. Her head descended ever so slowly. Lust and something else, something that looked like raw, unbridled need, touched her eyes as they met his.
“Mistletoe…” Her breathless voice was nothing more than a faint whisper.
“Do you mind if I kiss you?”
She parted her lips, but before she could say anything further, he took possession of her mouth. Moaning, her tongue snaked out and tangled with his. He could taste her sweetness on her strawberry-soaked tongue.
She was so responsive. So damn responsive. He could only imagine how she’d be when he got her alone. Which had to be soon, otherwise his body was going to explode into a million fragments.
He barely had time to explore her entire mouth when she eased away and broke the kiss. The sound of the crowd brought him back to his senses.
He leaned back on his heels and gazed at her. So beautiful. The gentleman in him urged him to apologize for ravishing her in public. But truthfully, the only thing he was sorry for was that he couldn’t finish what he started and bring her body to the heights of passion he suspected she craved.
She drew a deep, calming breath. Her voice was low, sexy. “I knew you were into casual sex, Kale, but you failed to warn me you liked to get intimate in public places.” She looked down shyly and curled the hem of her dress around her index finger. “I believe I was unprepared.”
She was anything but unprepared, and there was nothing casual about what they had just experienced. Whether she believed it or not. It had stirred him emotionally, warmed him right down to his toes, and left him yearning for more. Definitely a feeling he’d never encountered before.
He grinned. His eyes moved over her face. “Meet me in an elevator sometime and I’ll show you how much I like public places.”
Her head snapped up. She shivered almost violently.
Kale sensed it was a shiver of anticipation.
Chapter 3
A light dusting of snow fell over Kale’s much too flashy candy-apple red rental truck as he pulled into his mother’s circular driveway. Strings of white icicle lights lined the perimeter of the aged cedar-shingled bungalow and twinkled in the dark night. Kale smiled. For as long as he could remember, his mother had always made Christmas a special time for her three children, regardless of their limited funds.
A sense of belonging washed over him as he took a moment to peruse his old neighborhood. Not much had changed since he left eight years ago. He’d been home for visits, of course, but this was the first time he’d been back for the holidays. Earlier in the week, he’d spent time with his mother, but now he was looking forward to catching up with his sisters and spending Christmas as a family, instead of waking up in his overpriced condo with some corporate climber who was nothing more to him than a passing interest. Nor was he anything more to her.
Kale knew his reputation as a playboy had preceded him. It was a well-known fact that he’d played the bachelor game and lived the playboy lifestyle, just like all the other men and women in his social circle. Six months ago, after realizing he wanted more out of life, he’d begun searching for a woman who stirred him both physically and emotionally. He’d almost given up his quest to find his perfect partner.
Almost.
Now, after meeting a sexy scientist who’d turned his world upside down in the span of a week, he wasn’t interested in going back to his old ways and was eager to leave his playboy persona behind him.
Even though Erin had so blatantly stated that men were good for one thing and one thing only—sex—Kale was seeking more from her than a frivolous one-night stand. The first time he set eyes on her, he’d felt like he’d been sucker punched. Her killer smile, intelligence, quick wit, and easy demeanor had him reconsidering his disbelief in love at first sight.
Kale blew out a heavy sigh, knowing Erin wasn’t ready to hear him express his feelings and tell her he wasn’t simply interested in exploring a brief affair. Gut instinct warned he’d scare her off with his candor. She was guarded and vulnerable for a reason, a reason he vowed to get to the bottom of.
> Kale swept his gaze across the small bungalow once again as a movement behind the bay window caught his attention. He’d managed to make a life for himself in Los Angeles, but he had to admit, there was no place like home. It had been far too long since he’d joined the family for one of their ritual Sunday night dinners.
The sound of a car pulling in behind him roused him from his musings. He grabbed his keys from the ignition and reached for his door handle.
Waving wildly, his younger sister Lisa scrambled from the passenger side of the vehicle and dashed toward him. He barely had time to climb out of the driver’s seat before she threw her slender arms around his shoulders and squeezed him with a strength someone as tiny as she was couldn’t possibly possess.
“Kale,” she squealed, her warm breath visible in the chilly night air. “I’ve missed you.”
“Jesus, I can tell,” he teased, hugging her back. “Have you been working out?”
Lisa chuckled. “Yeah, Nick works in the campus weight room. He got me hooked.”
The wind picked up as Kale gripped her shoulders and inched back. Snow swirled around them and clung to their coats like dander. Kale blinked the heavy wet flakes from his eyelashes and dipped his head to meet his sister’s gaze.
“Nick?” he asked, giving her a stern look. His protective instincts surged to the surface. He furrowed his brow and let out a sigh. “Why is this the first I’ve heard of Nick?”
She whacked him with her gloved hand, sending snowflakes flying through the air in a mad flurry, and then rubbed her palms together to create heat as the temperature around them dropped a few more degrees.
“Because I didn’t need a lecture over the phone and I don’t need it now.” She waved for Nick to come over.
Kale glanced past his shoulders. As Nick moved toward him, he absorbed every detail of the plow truck who had caught his sister’s attention and had given her Schwarzenegger muscles.
Even though he was twice Kale’s size, he looked afraid. Good, Kale mused. He should be.
Kale widened his stance and put on his best scowl as the man drew near.
Lisa squeezed his arm in warning. “Kale, stop it. You’ve scared enough of my boyfriends away over the years. And you can stop protecting me. I’m all grown up.”
He cocked a skeptical brow. “All grown up? What are you, twelve now?”
She swatted him. “Very funny. I’m twenty-two and you know it. And I only have one semester left of college.” She tilted her chin and flashed him a perfect smile. “Thanks to Jay’s connections, I’ve already got my foot in the door down at Iowa Research Center.” Her eyes lit up. “Maybe we’ll get to work together someday.”
Kale returned her smile. It was nice that Jay had continued to watch over Kale’s family in his absence.
Nick moved in beside Lisa and wrapped one arm around her in a protective manner, warming her shivering body, as he thrust his other in Kale’s direction. “Nice to meet you, Kale. Lisa has told me so much about you,” he said, his voice genuine and sincere as he gave a quick nod of greeting.
Kale gripped the man’s thick hand and noted that he had a strong, firm handshake. Kale had always been a good judge of character, and Nick’s handshake and direct eye contact spoke volumes. He studied Nick for a moment longer, assessing him. The plow truck’s concern for his sister’s well-being was evident in the way he rubbed his beefy hand up and down her arm, offering his warmth. Kale noted with an equal measure of surprise and respect that the guy had enough balls to even touch his little sister in front of him. Maybe she’d found herself one of the good guys. Someone who was willing to go against his own best interests to put her needs and desires first.
“And she’s told me nothing about you,” Kale countered, turning his scowl on his sister. Just then the front door of the bungalow swung open and his mother’s voice sounded over the wind.
“Come in here you three, before you catch your death of cold,” Grace called out.
Kale chuckled and threw his arm around his sister’s waist. “And you think I’m overprotective. Come on. Let’s go. I’m starving.”
The aroma of freshly baked shortbread cookies reached his nostrils and brought back memories of his youth as he stepped inside. Life hadn’t always been easy after their father’s sudden heart attack fifteen years ago. Working part-time, maintaining his grades, and shouldering the responsibility of his two younger sisters over the years had been challenging to say the least.
He shrugged his coat off, draped it over the wooden stair rail, and inhaled the delectable scents coming from the kitchen. Jenna, his youngest sister, met him at the door.
As he studied his sister he realized things had changed drastically since his last visit. Dressed entirely in black, with spiked hair to match and a choker chain that resembled a dog collar, Jenna punched him on the shoulder. “Hey bro.”
How charming.
He dipped his head to meet her gaze. “Hey Jenna,” he returned. Cocking his head, he regarded her for an extra moment. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, resisting the urge to rip that piercing out of her eyebrow. “How’s your last year of high school working out for you? Have you decided on a college yet?”
She gave a very unladylike snort, and then grunted something incoherent before she sauntered back into the living room. Kale turned to his mother and arched a questioning brow.
“What—”
Her palms out, his mother’s blue eyes glistened as she cut him off. “It’s just another stage. You all went through them. She’ll get over it.” Grace pushed back her silvery hair and gestured with a nod. “Now come on, dinner is getting cold.” Waving her hands, she herded them all to the dining room table.
Following his mother down the short hallway, Kale couldn’t manage to tamp down his concerns. He knew at times he could be overprotective, too controlling of those he cared about, but it was that control that had gotten them through the rough times. And there had been many rough times over the years.
Kale moved into the cozy dining room and inhaled the familiar scents of his mother’s home cooking. Listening to a Bing Crosby Christmas carol coming from the living room stereo, he lowered himself onto a plush dining room chair and perused his childhood home, orienting himself.
Homemade Christmas decorations adorned every wall while linen Santa placemats and matching napkins covered the old oaken table. He noted how his condo seemed so sterile, so cold in comparison. In all honesty, he didn’t spend a lot of time there. When he wasn’t waking up in some passing interest’s bed, he was at the lab. Lately, however, he acknowledged that most of his nights were spent at the research center, not between some woman’s silky sheets.
Of course, his current probationary status at the center was a direct result of the late hours he kept. He’d fucked up. Plain and simple. Late one night in a haze of exhaustion, he’d fallen asleep on the old cot in the back of his lab and had forgotten to lock up. Because of his carelessness, a couple of vials of the serum that he and his team had been working on had gone missing. It could have cost him his job. By all rights it should have. The only thing that saved his ass was that his boss had a soft spot for him, right in the middle of her mattress. But he’d been duly warned, regardless of his impeccable work ethic, that if he fucked up again, at Castech or during his stint at the subsidiary center in Iowa, he could kiss his career good-bye.
Jenna plunked herself down on his left. The movement pulled him back to the present. Lisa and Nick grabbed the seat across the table facing him. As they all situated themselves, Kale uncorked the wine and filled the glasses as his mother brought in the last serving dish and took her seat at the end of the table.
Kale’s stomach growled. “It all looks great,” he said, his mouth salivating for a home-cooked meal.
His mother grinned at the endorsement. “Yes, well, I have to fatten you up. You’re looking too thin.”
Kale scoffed at the remark. Damn, he kept himself in great shape. In fact, he worked out regularly at
the health club. But if you were comparing him to the plow truck on the other side of the table, well, hell yeah, he looked thin. Anyone would.
As his mother’s gaze fixed on him, her eyes softened. Kale could only imagine what was running through her mind, visions of a daughter-in-law and the splendor of a child’s laughter in the house once again. He’d heard those comments numerous times over the last few years, but the timing had never been right before. He’d been far too busy striving for success and living the playboy lifestyle. But now that he’d encountered a sweet, fiery woman who turned his world upside down, all that had changed.
“What you need is a wife to cook for you,” she added. “Surely you must have found a nice woman out west.”
Kale smiled at her old-fashioned ways as he thought about the corporate climbers he’d dated in Los Angeles. Superficial women who were quick to take from him, yet never eager to give anything in return. Women pretending to be something they weren’t. He couldn’t imagine any one of them ever cooking for herself, let alone for him. In fact, he was the one who’d always done all the cooking. Not that he minded; he enjoyed being in the kitchen. And soon, very soon, he hoped he’d be preparing breakfast in bed for one very special lady.
As his thoughts journeyed to the sexy scientist who evoked unfamiliar feelings in him, a sudden burst of warmth streaked through his body and reverberated through his blood. It amazed him how just thinking of Erin could rouse such intense emotions. There was something about her that pulled at him. She’d gotten under his skin without even trying. No woman had ever affected him that way.
Kale’s whole life had been about shouldering responsibility and taking care of others. He’d never been selfish or put his needs first. Now, for the first time, he was about to do something just for him. With single-minded determination, he was going to go after what he wanted. And he wasn’t going to stop until he broke through Erin’s defenses and had her writhing beneath him on his bed.
